Let’s go back to the mid to late 90s and a phrase that will make you either pump your fist in the air or shudder in remembered horror. GIRL POWER! Several female figures of the 1990s (and I’m going to lump Ally McBeal in here, controversial as it may be) taught girls that they can do anything and do it in extremely short and tight skirts. The phrase was the rallying cry of British girl group the Spice Girls. They hit the populace with catchy pop tunes, short dresses and the lingering question of how one “zigazigahs” since Mel “Scary Spice” B really, really wanted to do it. And then the anime craze hit with its own series just for girls: Sailor Moon!
Saban first attempted to bring Sailor Moon over to America in wake of its success translating the Super Sentai shows into the Power Rangers. And it is documented on YouTube. Saban was first going to make it into a live-action show, with a politically correct cast. There would be a blonde girl, an African-American girl, an Asian-American girl, one girl there just to make up five girls and a girl in a wheelchair. When they transformed, they wouldn’t cut to Japanese footage a la Power Rangers, but to Western animation. And the wheelchair would come along for the ride as well! It was silly and fortunately never made.
But Sailor Moon would arrive in America. DIC took the anime made in Japan and dubbed it with American voice actors. Though the stories differ between the American and Japanese versions (and there are entire websites devoted to this), the show gave girls of the 90s their own superhero team to emulate. The Super Friends really only had Wonder Woman. And the Power Rangers only had two girls on the team—the Yellow Ranger (Trini/Aisha) and the Pink Ranger (Kimberly). And every girl wanted to be Kimberly. But only one could win, one would be the Yellow Ranger and then the rest were relegated to being boys. But with the Sailor Scouts, each girl could be her own Scout and I found among my friends we rarely clashed over who we wanted to be. I was also fond of Mercury while friends would either be Sailor Venus, Mars or Jupiter.
(No one wanted to be Sailor Moon, though, I think for reasons I’ll get into later)
In Japan, it was decided to produce a live-action version of the show. I have come across the show thanks to the nice people on YouTube who have posted the episodes. It differs from the anime while holding some of the same things that make it Sailor Moon.
(For those of you who wish to remain unspoiled, STOP here. I will not be holding back important plot information and/or twists)
Once upon a time, every planet had its own kingdom, including the Moon. During the Silver Millennium, the moon was ruled by Queen Serenity. Her daughter, also named Serenity, was enamored with the young Prince Endymion of Earth. But the peace and happiness of this time soon came to an end at the hands of the Negaverse. The Sailor Scouts, representing the planets in our solar system, put up a good fight to protect the Moon Kingdom and its princess. However, the kingdom was destroyed and Princess Serenity killed. With her final minutes, Queen Serenity pushes back the Negaverse and sends her daughter as well as the Sailor Scouts to be reborn on Earth, the only planet spared.
In the 20th century, the Negaverse reawakens and sets its sights on Earth…as you do. Luna the cat lands in Tokyo, looking for Sailor Moon. She stumbles across Usagi/Serena, who is Sailor Moon—much to Luna’s disbelief. She fights the monster of the day, gets rescued by Tuxedo Mask (Mamoru/Darien) and destroys the monster. As the fighting continues, she is joined by Sailor Mercury (Ami), Sailor Venus (Mina/Minako), Sailor Mars (Rei) and Sailor Jupiter (Lita/Makoto). It is also revealed that Usagi/Serena is the reincarnation of the Princess Serenity and Mamoru/Darien is the reincarnation of her true love, Endymion. She recovers the Silver Imperial Crystal and defeats Queen Beryl and the Negaverse.
The live action show has some side plots that differ from the anime, but still follows the same basic main plot. From here on out, we’ll examine how the characters differ between the two series as well as expound on the different plots.
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